I just finished reading “The Carbon War”, by Jeremy Leggett. Jeremy was an Oxford professor, until he decided to do something about Global warming. He joined Greenpeace, and the book tells of the years 1990-1997, from the early warning signs to the signing of the Kyoto agreement.
The troubling part is that Jeremy (and obviously he is not alone in this) believes that the environment will exhibit “positive feedback” to the greenhouse effect. What it basically means, is that once we heat the planet to a certain degree, it will start to heat itself more and more, even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases. There are a lot of possible reasons: Methane gases that are trapped beneath the ocean today, and might get loose, trees that will start to release their CO2 gas at a certain temperature, and many more reasons. Read the book if you want to find out more.
The Kyoto agreement was a step in the right direction, but obviously it is not enough, and many countries (including the US) will not even do what is required of them in that agreement.
If what he’s saying is true, then in about 10-15 years (or even less), we might reach the ‘no-turning-back’ point. It might mean the extrinction of most life on earth. Including humans, of course. Even without this positive feedback and ultimate death things, things are grim. Corals are dying all the time (Around 80% of corals in Syachelles, for example, have died in the last few years), ocean life is effected (for example, the Cod population in england is virtually non-existant today), etc.
So is there some issue that is more important than Global Warming? I guess not. While I’m not 100% sure Jeremy is correct, most evidance today seem to point in this direction, and we simply can’t efford to take that chance, can we? it is quite simple. It means that we must take action today, because in a few years it will simply be too late.
So what can we do? As individuals, we must first learn a bit more… I strongly suggest reading this book. The next book I am going to read is “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, which might give some opposing views, we’ll see. After we educate ourselves, we can educate others, and convince them to help too.
Then we can start saving some energy ourselves. Drive more efficient cars, use energy efficient appliances (lamps, fridges, etc.), eat organic food, try to lower your meat consumption, etc. It’s a small effect, and it only “delays”, but it helps.
We must make this our top issue, and it might effect those in goverment and business companies. There are a lot of companies that are on the right track. Whole Foods, for example, the biggest US organic store, is now a “zero-emmision” company - all their energy comes from renewable sources. We ourselves try to use only EcoVer products (For cleaning, laundery) who are also friendly to the environment. The more we buy from those companies, the more companies that will understand that this is the way to go.
We can invest some of our money in clean-energy companies. There are funds and ETFs that track those companies (even in israel there is a clean-energy fund, and an index-tracking stock, as well). If we can make solar or wind cost-competitive with coal, gas and oil than we might have a chance. Obviously we should not invest or help companies that pollute our planet. After all, what good is a good investment if you are not alive to enjoy it?
An interesting site I just found is Carbon Fund. This is a US non-profit organization, that fights global warming. The idea is that Carbon fund helps you to reduce or eliminate your carbon “footprint”. You can donate money, which goes to build solar or wind farms, or to “buy” carbon and “retire” it. They also do education and other stuff. The basic idea is that global warming effects us all. So if you help build a solar farm in the US, it helps you in Israel or wherever you are. They can help you calculate how much carbon you emit every year, and then they tell you how much money you need to give in order to offest this. It turns out that an average person needs about 100$ a year, which is not a lot of money when you consider the alternative.
In the last years or so, I’ve become more aware and more concerned about the environment. I hope to write a bit more about this issue, once I can get my own thoughts fixed about it. Obviously there is no time to lose.
